Solo Backpacking to Villupuram - A Travelogue (Part - 1)

Alert: It’s gonna be a long post. I am trying to document every single thing here. So if you have some patience and the heart to tolerate my silly grammar mistakes and the long post, GO ON: D

Background

For a long time I was longing to start a solo backpacking after an unplanned solo travel to Mysore a year back, which made me feel the awesomeness of solo travelling. As usual, I was just planning for the last one year and nothing in action.

            But somehow, during the last 2 months I have been thinking about it a lot and decided on it. The plan is solo backpacking to all districts of Tamilnadu. The count is 32 and it’s only on weekends. At first, sounded weird to me itself but no other way due to office.

            The reason for choosing Tamilnadu is that I thought ‘it’s must that you should be aware of your people and culture before exploring others’. So, it’s decided and I chose Villupuram. There is no specific reason for Villupuram. It’s just a random choice. The last week was full of planning as it happens for every over-enthusiastic-first-time traveler. I sorted out the places to visit and the ways to reach them.

Day One

            So, everything was good to go. Packing done with all that I thought was necessary: Extra clothes, Camera, chargers, knife, matchbox, mosquito coil and a book. I started from my room at 2 am in the early morning

Kaiveli Bus stop 2am: 
            
            The start itself gave me the first dose of solo travelling. I was waiting at Kaiveli bus stop for a bus to Tambaram for like half an hour. I got tired and started asking for lifts. I even asked in cars. That’s how I stopped a van which turned to be a police van looking for suspicious persons. As soon as it stopped, the police man immediately radioed in like ‘One suspicious person found at Kaiveli signal’. I didn’t want to say that I am traveling to get him more suspicious. I told that I am travelling to my hometown, Namakkal since it got late at office and gave my ID card. He didn’t believe and asked my office card. So had to give it to him. Then, he warned not to roam like this and went off.

The Joy of Hitchhiking:

           And in next few minutes I got the best dose of solo travelling. After police went, I stopped asking lifts and waited for the bus. That’s when a guy in scooty stopped and asked where to go. I said Tambaram. Since he is going till Medavakkam, he said he can drop me at Medavakkam. So I hopped on. All the way while travelling, all thoughts of physco killers and thieves came to my mind. So I thought of jumping out if he changed the direction of travel. But nothing of that sort happened and we reached Medavakkam. Then the same case at Medavakkam. A guy returning home stopped and offered a lift till Tambaram. He dropped me at the bus stop itself and went away without waiting for a thank you.

Tambaram Bus stop 3 am: 

          Boarded a bus to Villupuram from here. Travelling in bus is one of the best part of travelling. I am not mentioning the AC sleeper buses here. The ordinary buses. You can find every single character available in this world in that bus. It won’t be visible unless you look deep.

The not-so-normal-but-awesome bus travels:

A drunken guy who puts old gaanaa songs with loud noise and keeps fighting with the passengers, guy who is returning late from work trying to sleep very badly by trying weird sleeping positions, couple who asks every single guy to change seats (which is always supposed to be me), conductor who keeps yelling at people for change, conductor who wakes you up correctly at your stop and gets you down, driver who thinks he is a racer, driver who acts like a snail, girl who sits only at the first half of bus (it’s a common practice that girls sit only at the first half maybe because the second half is bumpy due to back tires or maybe it is testosterone charged), kids fighting for window seat, couples doing unbearable things, guys who doesn’t leave their edge seat (because if you are seated at the edge seat, you can keep your legs straight and free it which you can’t do when you go inside), guy who falls on you sleeping and asking sorry but keeps doing it, guys immersed in their mobile phones and headphones, girls who are aware of their surroundings and keeps correcting their dresses even if they are sleeping, guy or girl who keeps pestering to inform when his/her stop comes, guy who comes prepared with bedsheet and uses it to sleep in the space between the seats, guy who stands all the way and looking around always for someone to get up, guy or girl who gives seat for older people and many more. I didn’t see all these characters in this travel itself. I just wanted to say how awesome this kind of bus travel will be.

Villupuram bus stand 6 am:

          Reached Villupuram bus stand at 6am. Thought of going to Gingee Fort first. Didn’t know which bus to board. So, resorted to the best conversation starter, Tea. The shop owner told me the place where the bus will stand. Went there and waited for 15 mins and boarded the bus. (Buses going to Thindivanam or Vellore will go to Gingee. Practically in Tamil, it’s senji. So ask like that).

Senji bus stop 7.20am:  

         Reached Senji at 7.20. Had breakfast near the bus stop. Locals said the place is nearby. So started walking towards the Gingee fort by foot. But, it seems that the distance is 2kms and if you don’t want to walk, there are many share autos between Fort and Senji bus stop. You can use them.

Senji aka Gingee Fort:  
        
         After walking half an hour, reached the fort. The fort is basically comprised of 2 forts on opposite sides of the road. The one on right is Rani Kottai (for the queen) and the other is Raja kottai (For the King).

Rani Kottai:

The Raja kottai is the major attraction but I didn’t know it in first place. I first chose the Rani Kottai and went inside at 8am.

But had to wait till 8.30 am for the caretaker to come and open the place. After the gates are opened, started climbing it. You don’t have to rock climb or anything. The steps are well laid but you have to be careful though. Went atop the fort by 11.30 with some photo sessions in between. The view from the top is blissful. Be sure to watch the way you came to the Rani Kottai from the top. It’s a nice view.

And there are green fields around which makes the view lovely.

And regarding the place above, it has some well-built places like storage places for grains, meeting place for the kingdom (like Durbar) etc.

A dream place for Photographers.

After a good photo session there, climbed down. Seems easy to climb down but a single wrong step will cost your life. So be careful on every step.

A selfie view of Gingee Fort:

An overview of the Gingee Fort (Rani Kottai)

Raja Kottai:

            After climbing down, was very tired. So thought to have lunch and continue to the next. Had lunch at a home nearby where they offered food for a fair price. The food was awesome and refilled the water bottle there. Finished with the lunch, headed to the Raja Kottai. If you can’t walk make sure you get a share auto. It’s because, the distance to Raja kottai from main road is again 2-3 km (excluding the 2km from Senji bus stop). So plan accordingly. And on the way to Raja Kottai, there is a park cum temple. (If you are going by walk you can stop here and take rest for some time)

            I went by walk – rest at the park and then to the Raja Kottai. The Raja kottai is bigger when compared to Rani Kottai.

Before climbing the Raja Kottai, be sure to watch the Queen’s palace which is nearby to it. It’s an artistically built one.

And coming to the climbing part, it’s a tough one which will test your stamina. So, take some stops in between and climb gradually. And the place is fully crawling with Monkeys. So, make sure you carry a very big stick with you. Big means very big because the old monkeys won’t be afraid of those small sticks. And I am saying this because I had a terrifying cum thrilling experience with one of the old monkeys.

The Not-So-Friendly-Monkey:

            I made a stop at a place where there was place to sit down comfortably (like the thinnai we have in front of most of our old Tamil houses). I kept my bag aside and was enjoying the view from there with a small stick in one hand. Suddenly I heard a voice ‘Ggggrrrrrrrrr’. It’s not much of a loud noise but it was terrifying. As soon as I heard it, the small stick automatically fell down from my hand and when I was about to pick it up there was this Monkey with an angry face. I couldn’t move because even if turn or bend a little bit it was ready to jump on me with that ‘Ggggrrrrrrrrr’.

So, I just froze. The monkey started opening every single zip in my bag and put every single thing out. Dresses, cam, book, charger and every single thing. It couldn’t find anything. So, it went for Camera bag. I started praying (to the Monkey, not the God though). Since it was clip type, it couldn’t open it and threw it away. Finally, 2 Mentos which I kept in one of the front zips came to my rescue. It took that, tore it, gulped it and went away. Then I came back alive.

The Finale:

Then continued the grueling climbing and reached the top at last. And seriously the pain was worth it for the view and the awesome air there.

There wasn’t much of artistic places in the top. It’s just the pain and the joy. Settled there with headphones on ear. I would say it was here, where I have felt the lovely feel of the ‘Kanave Kanave’ song. I was in some other world for those minutes.

Some Random Experiences:

And, forgot to mention a group of college boys (5-6 I think) with whom I raced to the top, which they won obviously. They were funny and fast, with a touch of Gaanaa songs. And also a group of travelers from North India. They were well equipped – good backpacks, food, water and even a portable speaker to hear songs at the top. And it was bad they were playing some English songs:(

            On the way down, met a group of 50 school girls who were climbing to the top. When I met them, they encircled me, took all the water I had and waved me around enthusiastically. On coming down only, I understood that those girls went without teacher’s permission. They were frustrated and angry. And when the girls came down, they got a nice welcome ;)

Other attractions:

            Apart from the fort, there are other places like Granary, Elephant Tank and Explosive storage place etc. And there was a little park like setup here too. So, if you are planning to Raja kottai, start climbing around by 9 am and by the time you reach down it will be afternoon and you can have your lunch (if you got some prepared) or you can take rest down. But, you won’t get that awesome air at the top though, in the afternoon.

Funny scene (that’s how it looked like to me):

            Came down, took some rest and walked back to the Senji bus stop. It was here I saw a funny scene. A girl in scooty came to pick up her relatives from the bus stop. A little kid climbed at the back. But, she instructed the kid to come front. Without climbing down, the kid literally climbed all over that girl and came front. And then three more women climbed at the back. This girl was barely sitting and she was asking to the back like “Shall we roll?” The women at the back were very embarrassed as the whole bus stop was looking at them. So they said like “Go from here as soon as you can before everyone start laughing”. Then the girl moved the vehicle with many twists and turns and somehow managed to drive away from there.

Return:

From there took bus to Villupuram and then to Kallakurichi since I had planned to visit Periyar falls and Vellai Malai there, the next day. Took a lodge (NLJ Lodge – 200 rupees only per night) there, had Dinner at a road shop opposite the lodge. Parottas there was one of the best I had. Took tablets to cold due to change of water. Charged both the phones and the cam and slept off with lights on

Checklist if you are planning:

     1) Backpack very lightly

     2) Have 2 water bottles with full water

     3) Make sure you have a big stick for the Monkey ;)

     4) Don’t climb up or down too fast unless you are doing it for a sport

     5) For girl travelers, take a company with you. If solo is your mantra, then try going along with any other group (because place is little dangerous since a girl was killed here one week back)

     6) If you want to climb both the forts in single day, start at 8.30 itself

    So, at last the solo backpacking dream had materialized. Let’s see how it goes. Will see in the next post about the Day 2 :)

For the Love of Travel aka Che aka McCandless <3